What is the Bible?
Have you ever wondered what the Bible is all about? Even though most people have heard of the Bible, you might find people have different views about what it is. Maybe you picture the Bible as a dusty religious book on a shelf, or just an interesting read. If that was the case, it’s strange that this book was named as the “world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book” by Guinness World Records and there are billions of copies made in over 349 languages. Even more startling, this 2000 year old book makes the best sellers list every year and is the most read book in the world.
What is the Bible about and more importantly, does it mean anything for us today?
One of the unusual things about the Bible is that it isn’t just one book. It’s actually a compilation of 66 books, written by around 40 different authors, over the span of a few thousand years. You may even notice that these books are entirely different from each other, some include songs and poetry, some are narratives full of dramatic plot lines, battles, romance and rescues. Others are a first hand account from people who knew Jesus. But all of these books have three things in common.
1. They help us to know what God is like
2. They tell the story of the relationship between God and humanity
3. God was involved in writing it
In the Bible, we get to hear about what God said and did in the lives of different people. Some exciting events that happened include; God creating the Earth and people, the dramatic rescue of thousands of slaves from the Egyptians, God using miracles to rescue people, and Jesus dying to save humanity before being raised from the dead. Because the Bible tells us things that God has said and done, we can get a clear view of what God’s character is like. For example, we see that God chooses to show kindness and forgive people again and again, even when they go off track.
You might be wondering, “If people wrote the Bible, then how can people say that it is God’s Word?”. This is where the word “inspiration” comes in. Have you ever heard a Christian say “the Bible is the inspired Word of God”? What this really means is that God played an important role when the Bible was being written. Depending on the situation of who and why a person wrote that piece of the Bible, God creatively guided what they were writing. Sometimes He told them what to write (like when He gave Moses the 10 commandments), other times people wrote down what they saw Him doing (like the people that followed Jesus when He was on Earth), or sometimes God’s Spirit taught a person something important. Either way, God made sure that we could have access to a truthful book about who He is. Because people also had an active role in creating the Bible, we can see what it looks like to have a relationship with God. Instead of God giving us a one-way speech, we can see for ourselves that God wants to have a conversation with people, and that our human perspective, experiences and emotions are important.
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Masterpiece - Who defines this?